Friday, March 6, 2015

Hola darlings! I have news to catch-up for you, mea culpa. Goddesschess is once again sponsoring prizes for female chessplayers in the upcoming 2015 Grand Pacific Open. This year's event (the 9th), will be held April 3 - 6, 2015 at the gorgeous Grand Pacific Hotel in Victoria, British Columbia. It has been a multi-year pleasure working with the organizers of this fine event. I think next year we'll increase the prizes in the hope of attracting more female players.

Goddesschess is also providing sponsorship for the 2015 Montreal Open Chess Championnat that is once again being shepherded by Bernard Ouimet and the Ahuntsic Chess Club. This was one of Mr. Don's favorite events and he loved attending the tournament to take photos and videos and interview players. This year's event will take place September 11 - 13, 2015 in Montreal, Quebec at college Jean-de-Bre'beuf, an absolutely beautiful playing venue where the event has been hosted many times before. My Goddesschess goal this year was to provide sponsorship to the top female players in Canada to come out and play at the Championnat in addition to providing prizes to the top-finishing female players, and invitations were sent out by the organizers. I am happy to report that WIM Natalia Khoudgarian (2294 CFC) accepted the invitation. The remaining invitees were not available due to prior commitments (college classes, other tournaments, personal matters). The website has to be updated with respect to the Goddesschess prize structure, which shows the prizes we sponsored for the 2014 Championnat, that should be taken care of soon. On to a couple of big money Marquee international events:2015 Tata Steel a/k/a Wijk aan Zee (I shall always think of it that way) is completed and I'm like two months late with the news - duh! Well, I've been busy doing nothing since my retirement at the end of January, darlings :)Okay, so in the Big Event (the Masters), GM Hou Yifan (CHN 2673), the lone female representative, acquitted herself well enough, although she did not achieve 50% -- achieving a total score of 5.0 in 13 games -- 8 of which were draws! Holy Hathor! Eight (8) draws. GM Wesley So (2762), who has temporarily switched his allegience to the USA while playing on Susan Polgar's chess team at Webster College in St. Louis, Missouri (big bucks for chess in St. Louis thanks to the Sinquefields), had an excellent tournament. Here is the final table from the ever-excellent The Week in Chess coverage:

77th Tata Steel GpA Wijk aan Zee (NED), 9-25 i 2015

cat. XX (2746)

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

0

1

2

3

4

1.

Carlsen, Magnus

g

NOR

2862

*

½

½

½

½

½

1

1

0

1

1

½

1

1

9

2877

2.

Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime

g

FRA

2757

½

*

1

½

1

0

1

½

½

½

1

1

½

½

8½

2854

3.

Giri, Anish

g

NED

2784

½

0

*

1

1

½

½

½

½

½

½

1

1

1

8½

2852

4.

So, Wesley

g

USA

2762

½

½

0

*

½

1

½

½

½

1

½

1

1

1

8½

2854

5.

Ding, Liren

g

CHN

2732

½

0

0

½

*

½

0

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

8½

2856

6.

Ivanchuk, Vassily

g

UKR

2715

½

1

½

0

½

*

½

½

½

½

½

½

1

1

7½

2805

7.

Caruana, Fabiano

g

ITA

2820

0

0

½

½

1

½

*

½

0

½

½

1

1

1

7

2769

8.

Radjabov, Teimour

g

AZE

2734

0

½

½

½

0

½

½

*

1

½

½

1

½

0

6

2717

9.

Wojtaszek, Radoslaw

g

POL

2744

1

½

½

½

0

½

1

0

*

½

½

0

½

0

5½

2688

10.

Aronian, Levon

g

ARM

2797

0

½

½

0

0

½

½

½

½

*

½

½

½

1

5½

2684

11.

Hou, Yifan

g

CHN

2673

0

0

½

½

0

½

½

½

½

½

*

½

0

1

5

2664

12.

Saric, Ivan

g

CRO

2666

½

0

0

0

0

½

0

0

1

½

½

*

½

1

4½

2641

13.

Van Wely, Loek

g

NED

2667

0

½

0

0

0

0

0

½

½

½

1

½

*

½

4

2610

14.

Jobava, Baadur

g

GEO

2727

0

½

0

0

0

0

0

1

1

0

0

0

½

*

3

2536

In the Challengers' Event, two American players each performed well -- GM Sam Shankland (USA 2652) finished in 3rd place overall with a great score of 9.0/13 - no losses! - and nudged his ELO up a bit. Shankland also had eight (8!) draws; the rest of his games were wins. GM Samuel Sevian (USA 2511) finished in 6th place overall with a score of 7.5/13 with a very nice performance rating 111 points above his current rating that is sure to bump up his ELO. Two chess femmes participated in the Challengers: GM Valentina Gunina (RUS 2538) finished in 9th place overall with 5.0/13 and her PR was below her ELO. WIM Anne Haast (NED 2352) finished in 12th place overall with 4.0/13 and her PF was above her ELO. Here's the final table from the Challengers:

77th Tata Steel GpB Wijk aan Zee (NED), 10-25 i 2015

cat. XIII (2561)

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

0

1

2

3

4

1.

Wei, Yi

g

CHN

2675

*

½

½

½

½

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

½

1

10.5

2803

2.

Navara, David

g

CZE

2729

½

*

½

1

1

½

½

½

½

1

1

1

1

1

10.0

2759

3.

Shankland, Samuel L

g

USA

2652

½

½

*

1

½

½

½

1

½

1

1

1

½

½

9.0

2695

4.

Van Kampen, Robin

g

NED

2615

½

0

0

*

0

1

1

½

1

1

½

1

1

1

8.5

2667

5.

Salem, A.R. Saleh

g

UAE

2603

½

0

½

1

*

½

½

0

0

1

1

½

1

1

7.5

2615

6.

Sevian, Samuel

g

USA

2511

0

½

½

0

½

*

1

½

1

0

1

1

½

1

7.5

2622

7.

Potkin, Vladimir

g

RUS

2608

0

½

½

0

½

0

*

½

1

½

1

1

½

1

7.0

2586

8.

L'Ami, Erwin

g

NED

2613

0

½

0

½

1

½

½

*

0

1

½

½

1

½

6.5

2557

9.

Gunina, Valentina

g

RUS

2538

0

½

½

0

1

0

0

1

*

½

0

0

½

1

5.0

2476

10.

Michiels, Bart

g

BEL

2563

0

0

0

0

0

1

½

0

½

*

0

1

1

½

4.5

2451

11.

Klein, David

g

NED

2517

0

0

0

½

0

0

0

½

1

1

*

½

½

½

4.5

2454

12.

Haast, Anne

wm

NED

2352

0

0

0

0

½

0

0

½

1

0

½

*

½

1

4.0

2436

13.

Dale, Ari

m

AUS

2291

½

0

½

0

0

½

½

0

½

0

½

½

*

0

3.5

2407

14.

Timman, Jan H

g

NED

2593

0

0

½

0

0

0

0

½

0

½

½

0

1

*

3.0

2348

I totally missed the 2015 Tradewise Gibraltar International Chess Festival. Gibraltar has made a favorable reputation for attracting top female players with excellent conditions and prizes, and this year was no exception. This tournament has also consistently attracted some of the best chess talent, bar none, from around the world, and the chess femmes go head to head with them -- there is no separate "women only" chess ghetto! GM Hou Yifan (see above, she also played at Wijk aan Zee), whom I'm pleased as punch to see has developed a grown-up sense of style (well, the teenage years are tough on us all, aren't they...) had a great event. Here's the final standings from The Week in Chess -- there were 257 players and these days I don't have the patience to be scrolling through the list of names trying to pick out all of the chess femmes, you'll have to be happy with the top 50 players as highlighted at The Week in Chess and I've highlighted the chess femmes in red and my American players (all dudes) in blue. Special kudos to India's Padmini Rout -- she started out ranked 101st and finished 28th overall - HOLY HATHOR!

The Battle of the Sexes was one of the "relaxing, fun" events scheduled this year. Ha! I do have to say that the ladies are drop-dead gorgeous. The men - meh :The female participants in the Battle of the Sexes (above) did not, alas, prevail against the chess dudes; final score was 2.5 dudes (a scruffy-looking lot - please dudes, learn how to shave and dress properly, heh) and 0.5 beautiful femmes. The ladies win on style points and overall presentation, alone, geez!There is tons of press coverage at the official 2015 Tradewise Gibraltar website; online press coverage this year was anchored by IM Tania Sachdev of India (she's the beautiful lady on the far right in the photo, above), and certainly not beautiful Chess Festival Director Stuart Conquest. Please check it out. MORE CHESS NEWS TOMORROW, PINKY FINGER SWEAR. Right now, in Milwaukee, it's 5:03 p.m. and time for a glass of wine.

Our Commitment to Chess

Scholarships for Chess Femmes

Our Commitment to Chess

2012 Goddesschess Canadian Women's Closed Chess Championship

2014 SPONSORSHIPS

Hales Corners Chess Challenge XIXApril 12, 2014Milwaukee, WIPrizes for female players in Open and Reserve sections and paid entry to next HCCC for top female finisher in each section. This is Goddesschess' 12th HCCC!

Goddesschess Fighting Spirit Award

2013 U.S. Women's Chess Championship

2013 SPONSORSHIPS

Hales Corners Chess Challenge XVIIIOctober 12, 2013Milwaukee, WIRecord prize money awarded to chess femmes - $800!In honor of National Chess Day and the one year anniversary of the passing of our webmaster, researcher and writer, Don McLean, additional prizes of $150 were awarded to the top two male finishers in each Section.Milwaukee Summer Challenge IIJune 15 - 16, 2013Milwaukee, WIPrizes for the chess femmes and funding a best game prize

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"Advanced Chess" Leon 2002

About Me

I'm one of the founders of Goddesschess, which went online May 6, 1999. I earned an under-graduate degree in history and economics going to college part-time nights, weekends and summer school while working full-time, and went on to earn a post-graduate degree (J.D.) I love the challenge of research, and spend my spare time reading and writing about my favorite subjects, travelling and working in my gardens. My family and my friends are most important in my life. For the second half of my life, I'm focusing on "doable" things to help local chess initiatives, starting in my own home town. And I'm experiencing a sort of personal "Renaissance" that is leaving me rather breathless...